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Is anyone running their M1 mini + LG Ultrafine 5K flawlessly?

Hessel89

Hessel89

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 27, 2017
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Netherlands
I'm considering upgrading to an M1 Mini but I do have an LG Ultrafine 5K monitor I wanna keep using.
I am aware of the problems some have run into when running this setup so I wonder,
are there any LG 5K + M1 Mini owners out here that have this setup running flawlessly?
 
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Gen 1 (27MD5KA) works great, just wish my Ultrafine didn't have a loose Thunderbolt port but that is common with these.
 
eksu said:
Gen 1 (27MD5KA) works great, just wish my Ultrafine didn't have a loose Thunderbolt port but that is common with these.
Click to expand...

lupinglade said:
Works great with the gen 1 here. No issues.
Click to expand...

Which resolution do you run it at? Can you screenshot the scaled options? I no longer have 3200x1800 as a scaled option.

If you hold the option key while clicking on Scaled what resolutions do you have available?

Thanks!
 
itsphilgeorge said:
Which resolution do you run it at? Can you screenshot the scaled options? I no longer have 3200x1800 as a scaled option.

If you hold the option key while clicking on Scaled what resolutions do you have available?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
3200x1800 appears to be gone, but I run at "looks like 2560x1440" (hi-dpi).

Screen Shot 2021-01-12 at 9.53.43 PM.png
 
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Pressure said:
That would require a frame buffer of 6400x3600 and the M1 can't apparently make one above 6016 pixels.

So the 6K really is a hard limit.
Click to expand...
Yep. This is the issue, do you have any further insight as to this being a hardware or software limitation?

The M1 is capable of driving substantially more pixel than a single XDR display as it can also drive the internal display.

So I am trying to determine if it can be resolved on the OS or if there is a limitation of the hardware.
 
louisitou said:
no issues here on a LG Ultrafine 5k and no issues here on a XDR Pro Display. Both Displays work amazing on a M1 Mini here.
Click to expand...
Thanks @louisitou

The issue is around the availability of scaled resolutions. If you connect your Macbook 16" to either display you will notice there are more Scaled resolutions to choose from than you get using the M1 Mac Mini. For some of us, who used the other scaled resolutions, this has effected workflow.
 
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Pressure said:
That would require a frame buffer of 6400x3600 and the M1 can't apparently make one above 6016 pixels.

So the 6K really is a hard limit.
Click to expand...
6K is kind of arbitrary. I would guess it's a software limit and that it could maybe reach 8K (8192). Just need to find that number in the code and change it. But not sure how easy it is to do that with Big Sur on ARM. Lilu.kext doesn't have a ARM version yet.
 
joevt said:
6K is kind of arbitrary. I would guess it's a software limit and that it could maybe reach 8K (8192). Just need to find that number in the code and change it. But not sure how easy it is to do that with Big Sur on ARM. Lilu.kext doesn't have a ARM version yet.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Arbitrary aside from it being the exact width of the Apple XDR.

To me, this is essentially a decision where the Graphics team working on the M1 Architecture determined that for the first M1 they should limit the chip to the minimum resolution required by Apple manufactured devices and discard support explicitly for third party monitors that utilise greater resolutions.

A classically Apple move!
 
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Hessel89 said:
I'm considering upgrading to an M1 Mini but I do have an LG Ultrafine 5K monitor I wanna keep using.
I am aware of the problems some have run into when running this setup so I wonder,
are there any LG 5K + M1 Mini owners out here that have this setup running flawlessly?
Click to expand...
I have this very combination and like it very much (Big Sur 11.1 solved a problem with the resolution).

"Flawlessly" is a big word :rolleyes: There are two minor issues:
  • When waking up from sleeping, the monitor starts with maximum brightness. But one press on the brightness button on the keyboard helps.
  • Two times I had the strange effect that a column of pixels in the mid of the screen were shifted above, by less than a millimeter but of course discernable. A restart helped. Didn't contact Support so far, will be waiting if this happens again.
But these little things do not affect my very positive impression! Great display, works so smoothly with the M1 Mac mini/Big Sur!
 
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nothingtoseehere said:
I have this very combination and like it very much (Big Sur 11.1 solved a problem with the resolution).

"Flawlessly" is a big word :rolleyes: There are two minor issues:
  • When waking up from sleeping, the monitor starts with maximum brightness. But one press on the brightness button on the keyboard helps.
  • Two times I had the strange effect that a column of pixels in the mid of the screen were shifted above, by less than a millimeter but of course discernable. A restart helped. Didn't contact Support so far, will be waiting if this happens again.
But these little things do not affect my very positive impression! Great display, works so smoothly with the M1 Mac mini/Big Sur!
Click to expand...
After the "Sad"-Button from OP, I should add that IMO these minor flaws are software-related and hopefully to be erased in the future.
(I really should contact Support/Feedback...)
 
I have the M1 with the LG 24MD4KL and the only issue i have is when i leave the computer for a while and come back the webpages i had open are at 1/4 scale and do not respond so i have to close them out and start all over again, not that big of a deal but it can be annoying if on a specific page, does anyone know of a solution? Thanks.
 
@nothingtoseehere I just read your comments regarding the strange pixel shifting. I'm new to the forum and posted the same thing in another thread.
I'm getting this with a New M1 Mac Mini and a new LG 5K screen. It's really odd as it must happen at some point during the day, it's not like it at first start up. Not sure if it corrupts after exiting standby. Only shutting down fixes.
I used the Apple support chat and they have just suggested in the first instance to try a different monitor.
I'm kinda glad somebody else is experiencing this! I hope it's fixed in an OS update.

Other than that the Monitor is awesome, and regarding the Mac Mini itself I left it rendering an animation for over 3 hours in Cinema 4d and it stayed silent and only got "warm".
Thanks
 
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Garry Mac said:
@nothingtoseehere I just read your comments regarding the strange pixel shifting. I'm new to the forum and posted the same thing in another thread.
I'm getting this with a New M1 Mac Mini and a new LG 5K screen. It's really odd as it must happen at some point during the day, it's not like it at first start up. Not sure if it corrupts after exiting standby. Only shutting down fixes.
I used the Apple support chat and they have just suggested in the first instance to try a different monitor.
I'm kinda glad somebody else is experiencing this! I hope it's fixed in an OS update.

Other than that the Monitor is awesome, and regarding the Mac Mini itself I left it rendering an animation for over 3 hours in Cinema 4d and it stayed silent and only got "warm".
Thanks
Click to expand...
It is very reassuring to hear that I am not alone! 😋

We will keep an eye on that (we have no other option as to do so, obviously ; -)
 
I've got pixel shifting on my Mac mini 2018 with W5700 eGPU in Big Sur when I do 4K 80Hz or higher refresh rate. It's a horizontal shift to the left of the left half of the display such that the middle 16 or 32 pixels is duplicated. The problem does not occur in Catalina.
In the picture, you can see the Apple menu is shifted to the left and there's a column of duplicated pixels in the middle.
Pixel Shift 4K 80Hz Big Sur 11.1 (20C69) W5700.JPG
 
FYI .. Couldn't find my LG USB-C cable for connection to my Mac mini M1. Tried other USB-C cables - got no display or intermittent display. Reverted to LG HDMI cable - got display but somewhat faded (gray blacks). Finally found my LG USB-C cable - connected it - beautiful display with good black blacks.
 
nothingtoseehere said:
I have this very combination and like it very much (Big Sur 11.1 solved a problem with the resolution).

"Flawlessly" is a big word :rolleyes: There are two minor issues:
  • When waking up from sleeping, the monitor starts with maximum brightness. But one press on the brightness button on the keyboard helps.
  • Two times I had the strange effect that a column of pixels in the mid of the screen were shifted above, by less than a millimeter but of course discernable. A restart helped. Didn't contact Support so far, will be waiting if this happens again.
But these little things do not affect my very positive impression! Great display, works so smoothly with the M1 Mac mini/Big Sur!
Click to expand...
I have the M1 Mac Mini (16/512) and the latest gen LG 5k Ultrafine.

I have those same two issues. With the misaligned pixels, if you send the machine back to sleep, or change resolution via sys prefs, it can sometimes help. Otherwise, just unplug-replug in the monitor cable on either the Mini or LG end. Don't need to restart.

Other issues:
• waking from sleep can take about 5 seconds before I see anything on the monitor.
• when waking from sleep, it can also cause the volume to be set to 100%.
• the windows of some apps will be resized and repositioned. Mostly happens to Electron based apps. Not sure if this is LG specific or Mac Mini specific, but it's annoying for your workspace to be changed like that.
 
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mini5apple said:
just buy imac ?
Click to expand...
Just buy an iMac? Well ..

I bought a Mac mini M1 so I could run Big Sur on my iMac Pro.
Experimented using my iMac as a larger display for the Mac mini M1.
Found that the iMac was pretty slow compared to when I used it as a monitor for my much faster Mac mini M1.
Sold my iMac and bought an LG 32UD99 32" monitor to be used with my M1 Mac mini.

It's like having a really fast iMac .. and .. being able to display 2 FULL pages side by side .. Best of both worlds.
 
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